The Journey
by Hirwo
Summary: A boy is goes on a perilous journey through a devastated modern world to reach of place of survival. What will he gain along the way? "It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end."
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Background: It was early in 2028 and the world had been utterly caught unprepared by what transpired. __Earthquakes hit most of the major cities__ all over the world. Tsunamis __and large waves flooded entire coastlines of all continents__. Colossal tornadoes ran rampant, crushing entire towns by themselves. __No place remained untouched. The__ whole world was destroyed. Human kind was not a match for nature's explosive violence. __Eventually, the survivors found ways to survive, most leaving the cities to escape the constant reminder of their dead loved one__s._

_A year after the chaos, an unlikely pair meet through rare circumstances and bond as they travel through this unforgiving land._

As the sun began to disappear behind the horizon, a silhouette of a group of people could be seen beneath the devastated remains of destroyed buildings. A semicircle of a half-dozen gang members with an assortment of displayed weapons had a barely visible figure trapped in a narrow one-way alley.

"Can't run anymore, can you?" the gang leader menacingly mocked it.

The figure was a medium-height, Asian boy in his later teens. He had black hair and wore worn and dark clothes. His ragged backpack was slung on one shoulder, while the waist on the opposite side held a simple unadorned sword. Unless one looked closely, no indication of fear could be found.

As the gang closed in further with weapons raised, the boy raised his blade to meet them, preparing to fight. He knew this he was probably going to lose against so many opponents but he was determined to not go down without a fight.

Kyo was an orphan ever since he was a young child, never finding a true family or friend of his own. Many times he had been sent to a foster home where he had been horribly beat before he ran away. Scars began to develop all around his body to remind him of his past, painful experiences. Eventually, Kyo built up an icy wall around himself, never letting anyone to get close to him. His cold exterior discouraged even the most friendly of people.

"Any last words, boy?" taunted one of the men as he raised his irregularly shaped pipe to strike.

Kyo simply swung at the man, catching him off guard, as he sliced through the rusty metal into his chest, striking a fatal wound. Caught off guard, the gang had no time to react as they watched one of their men fall to the ground, dead.

"Kill him!" the leader angrily shouted as he stepped back safely watching his minions to complete dangerous task.

Four men rushed at Kyo with their weapons raised. He tried to dodge them and block what he could, but a fist shot through his defenses and clipped his head, dazing him for a second, allowing the others to follow up with blows to the head and body. Something hard hit the back of his head, allowing the sword to be ripped from his suddenly loose grip as he fell forward barely conscious.

Suddenly, a knife appeared through the leader's head behind them, stopping the four men attacking Kyo in their tracks.

"Leave, or suffer the same fate," threatened a cold, yet emotionless voice behind them.

They turned around and saw a barely visible figure of a young woman clad entirely in black and dark green holding two razor-sharp kamas at her sides. Kyo, barely conscious, seeing her posture and the relaxed way she held her weapons came to the conclusion that she was an experienced fighter.

"You think you can defeat all of us?" one of the men questioned.

She simply stared at him waiting the man's move.

"Just kill he-," the man started to say before a knife appeared in his chest. Everyone looked startled at the woman, suddenly scared. No one saw the knife come from the woman, but they knew that was the only source it could come from.

"Ok, we'll leave," agreed the remaining three, scared.

She sheathed her weapons as soon as they ran out of sight and turned her attention onto the boy.

Kyo, though rapidly fading into unconsciousness, tried to make out the details of his savior. She was younger than what he first presumed, maybe only a few years older than himself. She was doubtlessly the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had an athletic body around the same height as his. Her silky, long black hair was gracefully tied into a ponytail behind her back. Clear, emerald-green eyes bored into him as she seemed to indifferently study him.

"Wh-who are you? What do you want?" he managed to slur barely able to remain conscious.

"Rest now," he heard as he felt the sensation of being picked up before surrendering to the blackness.

Kyo woke up on his mat and tried to get up but stopped after a major headache and the pain from all over his body grew overwhelming. He slowly pulled back the covers and inspected his body and realized that he was naked with the faint smell of ointment on him with bandages wrapping all around his chest. He must have broken some ribs. Abruptly, he remembered the events that had transpired yesterday evening.

_The girl... who was she? Why did she help me? How did __I get home__?_

He face turned scarlet as he remembered being gently put into his mat and stripped as the girl began treating his wounds. He looked around, making sure the girl was not still at his house. As he tried to get up, his hand knocked against a something. He turned and saw a bowl of water and food next to him on the floor. Parched, he slowly got up and drank some and immediately fell back, exhausted. As he started to sleep again, he didn't notice a pair of glowing green eyes watching him through a window before leaving.

** Author's Note: Hi guys, this is my first fanfic. I would appreciate it if you would leave a few reviews.**


	2. Chapter 2

She relaxed her mind by leaping from one building's roof to another, roaming across the city. The evening air was silent as she gracefully maneuvered on top of the roofs, lit only by the soothing moonlight.

Her mind wandered to a specific event that had happened a few weeks ago. She had been practicing these same exercises when she heard some voices and decided to investigate. Silently leaning over the edge of a building, she had watched the events occur beneath her.

__As the sun began to disappear behind the horizon, a silhouette of a group of people could be seen beneath the devastated remains of destroyed buildings. A semicircle of a half-dozen gang members with an assortment of displayed weapons had a human-like figure trapped in a narrow one-way alley.__

__ "Can't run anymore, can you?" the gang leader menacingly mocked it.__

__The figure was a tall, lanky, Asian boy in his later teens. He had black hair and wore worn and dark clothes. His ragged backpack was slung on one shoulder, while the opposite side held a simple unadorned sword, but if one looked closely, they could see tiny inscriptions on it. His panicked eyes darted back and forth searching for any hope of escaping.__

__ As the gang closed in further with weapons raised, the boy responded by raising his own blade. The boy had the air of determination around him, his body language and the way he held his head completely destroyed any assumptions that he was scared or uncertain of himself.__

So lost in her own thoughts, she didn't notice she had stepped on an unbalanced section of a roof until it collapsed underneath her, causing her to lose her balance and fall. She hit her head against a heavy object as she fell to the ground, knocked unconscious, along with the rest of the building, resulting in a deafening crash.

Kyo sat on his mat after an exhausting day of fruitlessly searching for food. He took out his sword and studied it for what seemed like the hundredth time. The sword always showed something new each time he examined it. Although it looked plain from far away, it had intricate but undecipherable Asian character inscriptions engraved in both sides of the blade. He knew it could be traded away for a large amount of resources, but he had grown attached to it and didn't want to sell it away.

As his hands wandered to the hilt of the sword, he felt a scar on the hilt. It was the only imperfection on this sword. His mind flashed back to how it had been marked. He had almost died in that encounter if it wasn't for that girl who saved him. He still wondered everyday why the girl risked her life to help him. Kindness to random strangers was not common at all in this city.

Disrupting his thoughts, Kyo suddenly heard a large sound as if a building had collapsed. After a few seconds of debating with himself whether to investigate, he decided to go and took along his sword in case he encountered trouble.

After around ten minutes of walking, Kyo started to grow more wary as he estimated to be near where the loud noise had occurred. Staying in the shadows, he turned a corner and saw a recent wreckage. Just as he was going to take a closer look, a duo of men wielding a club and a knife came into view. He stayed still, hidden in the shadows, knowing that any movement might betray his position.

What's this?" the larger man with the club asked his partner, "There's a person!"

"Its a girl," agreed the smaller man who seemed to be the leader. He suddenly narrowed his eyes, "She looks like the one who killed half of our patrol a couple weeks back."

Kyo turned pale, realizing that these people could be the same men that had almost killed him, while the figure in the wreckage he didn't even notice could be the one who saved him.

"Tie her up and take her back to the boss," the smaller man commanded his partner, "He'll know what to do with her." The men started to bind her arms together.

Kyo began to debate with himself whether to help the girl. As he was internally conflicted, he saw the girl regain consciousness and open her surprisingly vivid green eyes, confused. She widened her eyes as she realized her situation and futilely struggled, weakened from being knocked on the head. As she was forced to stop by the knife at her throat, she viewed her surroundings and saw Kyo, hiding in the shadows. She steadily met his gaze, not giving any implication on whether to help or to run.

Kyo shrunk under her stare and turned, ready to run away and leave her to her fate. As he started to walk back to his home, he couldn't resist one more look back.

The girl could take care of herself, his selfish side reasoned. What was he doing, he asked himself. The girl had risked her life to save him and he was repaying her by leaving her to the gang. He was torn between helping her and risking his life and running like a coward.

He knew he couldn't live with himself if he let the girl die at the hands of the gang.

"Let her go," Kyo demanded with more confidence then he had as he stepped out into plain view.

"Scram, kid, and I'll forget you," the man threatened.

Kyo steeled himself and drew his blade.

The girl simply watched the proceedings with a stoic face, not giving any indication as to her thoughts.

"Kill this runt and meet up with me later," the shorter man ordered the larger one.

The larger man nodded his head and raised his club as he approached the boy while the leader dragged the girl away.

Kyo approached carefully, knowing one direct hit from the club would immediately end the fight. He had previous fighting experiences while disputing over the scarce food so he had learned the basics of using the sword.

He waited for the man to swing the club at him and stepped back, trying to dodge it and judge the speed of his opponent but failed in doing so as he tripped against a stray rock on the ground, twisting his ankle. The club barely nicked the side of his head, barely winding him, but just the sensation of being hit brought fear to Kyo.

The man grinned darkly as he saw this, thinking it was a clear win, and lazily swung his club. Kyo ducked under it and came up stabbing the man in the chest. The man froze in shock, face turning pale before collapsing on the ground.

Catching his breath from the short fight, Kyo wiped his blade on the man's jacket as he assessed his injuries. He tried to put weight on his foot but stopped as soon as the pain became close to unbearable. All of a sudden, he heard a yell coming from from the street where the girl had dragged the girl away. He ignored the pain as he limped as fast he could around the corner, using the sword as a makeshift crutch.

As he turned around a corner, he saw the girl standing over her previously alive captor. She looked up at him as he came into view and walked up to him while he stood there nervously. She stared into his eyes, studying him.

"Thank you for your help," she said in a flat tone.

Kyo wasn't really sure if she meant it or not. She probably could have taken out both of the men with ease now that he thought about it.

"Uhh... sure. No problem," he muttered. He asked, "Are you the one who helped me a few weeks ago?"

"Yes," came the simple reply.

He looked away embarrassed as he remembered his wounds being treated.

Awkward silence took hold of the conversation, although Kyo was the only one affected by it. As he shifted from one foot to another, he was suddenly reminded of his injury as pain began to shoot up his left foot, making him lose his balance and fall to the ground.

Right before he hit the ground though, the girl stepped forward and caught him.

"Thanks," he mumbled, embarrassed to have forgotten his injury.

"Do you need help to get home?" the girl asked, her voice losing a minimal amount of her usual hardness.

"Yea," Kyo was reluctant in asking for help again.

She took his hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders before doing the same with her arm and his shoulder. Thankfully, they were around the same height with Kyo only slightly taller than the girl which made it easier to walk. She helped Kyo cautiously make his way back to his home, which Kyo still had to ask how she knew, and set him on his bed. She started to treat his ankle, allowing Kyo to observe her as she worked. Once again, he was astonished by how beautiful she was. Every move she made seemed graceful as she bandaged his ankle. He didn't even notice she had finished until she looked at him, amused.

"Done staring?"

His eyes looked away for a few seconds after he was caught staring, his cheeks flushed red, "I..." The girl stood up as she prepared to leave.

"Wait," Kyo called after her, "What is your name?"

The girl was hesitant before answering, "Akali."

"Mine is Kyo, thanks for helping me."

She nodded her head before stepping out of the home.

Kyo fell back on his bed exhausted, almost immediately falling asleep as soon as she left.

****Author's note: Thank you to the people that reviewed. As ever, they are always appreciated.****


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